Social Media Executive (SME): Could you briefly tell us about yourself?

Ngodup Waser Rujang (NW): I was born in Kulu in Himachal Pradesh where my parents were doing road construction work. I am the only child of my parents. I grew up in Norgyaling Tibetan Settlement in Bhandara (MS) where my parents were later resettled. I did my primary schooling in the settlement and later went to CST Simla for secondary studies, to CST Mussoorie for higher secondary. When I was in the school, I was awarded “School Best boy Medal” by the Department of Education, CTA in the year 1981 at CST Gothangaon and in 1985 at CST Mussoorie. I also had the opportunity to write an article on “Preservation of Tibetan Culture & Heritage” for the Silver Jubilee Souvenir journal of CST Mussoorie in 1985. I was enrolled in the year 1986 as per the direction of the CTA and served for 6 years in Chakrata & Assam. I had to take pre-mature discharge from the service following sudden passing away of my parents one after the other in 1990 & 1991.

SME: Please explain your job description & how best does your work represent you or vice versa?

NW: I joined CTA in the year 1992. I applied for Junior Clerk staff recruitment exam and passed with distinction & appointed to Cooperative Secretary cum Manager of Kunphenling Tibetan Co-operative Society, Ravangla (Sikkim). Thereafter, I was transferred to Tibetan Settlement Mainpat, Bhandara, TDL Bylakuppe, Ladakh, Chief Representative Office Bangalore (with Additional task as Co-operative Secretary, Hunsur), Kumrao (HP), Tibetan Women’s Center Rajpur and again to Kumrao (with Additional task as Settlement Officer, Sataun).

I had served 22 years ( 1992 to 2014 ) in various Tibetan settlements & Co-operative  Societies as Office Secretary, Accountant, Cashier, Sponsorship Secretary, CRS dealing,  Manager, Co-operative Secretary, and Settlement Officer. In the year 2008, I was awarded “Best CTA staff award” on the occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Birthday at Dharamsala (HP) by the then Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche in recognition of my hard work while serving at the CRO Bangalore with the additional charge of co-operative secretary of Hunsur settlement.

After long service in various Tibetan settlements, I was transferred to head office, Dharamsala in Department of Home, CTA & appointed as coordinator of   “Canada Resettlement Project” for 1000 Tibetans from Arunachal Pradesh, dealing staff of Central Tibetan Relief Committee and presently working as a Manager of Housing & Estate Unit, DoH, CTA. It has always been challenging and a huge responsibility to handle various projects and administrative works. However, I served more for than 26   years in CTA with dedication and sincerity.

SME: What inspired you to serve the CTA?

NW: I was eager to serve in CTA. This I believe is the real platform where I can contribute to the cause of Tibet and serve our community. My parents always advised me to serve the CTA under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

SME: What does it mean for you to be a CTA civil servant?

NW: Being a Tibetan, it is a very special opportunity and not everyone gets a chance to serve in the CTA. So, I consider serving under the blessing of His Holiness is good karma for me. I am determined to serve in the CTA until my retirement as my humble obeisance to His Holiness.

SME: How best do you think you could make a difference to CTA?

NW: There is no substitute for hard work & no short cut to Success. I always believe in working hard and with dedication and sincerity. Doing so alone will bring a good result to the CTA and the Tibetan community at large. His Holiness always used to say that we are servants, not officers to command the people. Keeping this in our mind, we must do our best to serve our community.

SME: Who is your role model & Why?

NW: Our great leader, Champion of peace & Nobel Laureate His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is my role model. Like millions of his followers, I always hold him in highest reverence for his relentless hard work to cultivate universal peace and brotherhood in the world. Like fellow Tibetans all over the world, I admire and revere His Holiness for his unrivaled and compassionate leadership.

SME:  What is your piece of advice for young Tibetans serving or wishing to serve at CTA?

NW: I am very happy to see that most of the young Tibetans who are serving in the CTA are well educated and have the potential to do much better. As I said earlier it is a golden opportunity to serve in the CTA with the blessings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I advise younger generations to seek advice from the more experienced older generations in the CTA to enable them to perform better for the CTA. And more importantly, His   Holiness the Dalai Lama’s valuable speeches and bits of advice to CTA staff will definitely help us to perform better in whatever field we are entrusted to serve. Keeping these in your mind, I advise our younger lots to do your best to fulfill the wishes of His Holiness and Tibetan people.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama assures in His prayer that:-

།གངས་ཅན་ཞིང་གི་ཆོས་སྲིད་བྱ་བའི་གདུགས།

།འདེགས་པའི་སྲི་ཞུར་གཏོགས་པའི་སྐྱེ་བོ་ཀུན།

།ལྷག་བསམ་རྣམ་དཔྱོད་དཔུང་པ་རབ་བརྟན་ཅིང༌།

།སྐྱེ་ཀུན་ཕྱག་ན་པདྨོས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ཤོག

The individuals who as civil servants

Uphold the parasol of dharma and politics of the snow land of Tibet

With steadfast dedication, wisdom, and unity

May they be blessed and guided by Lord Avalokiteshvara

Taking this opportunity, My humble respect to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and pray for his long life. I wish all our CTA staff a very happy and prosperous Tibetan New Year “LOSAR”. May this new year brings you all the happiness, healthy, successful, peaceful and prosperous life ahead. Bho-Gyal-Loo

Every first Saturday of the month, as a part of its shout-out campaign, DIIR’s Social Media Desk will be profiling a civil servant of Central Tibetan Administration. This week we are pleased to profile Ngodup Waser Rujang, Housing and Estate Manager at the Department of Home, CTA.